With the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic hitting New Jersey, many schools are shutting down. Though schools are shutting down, public services, such as restaurants and gyms, remain open. Closing schools and not other locations has sparked controversy on whether or not that is ideal.

New Jersey has seen nearly 5,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day, and to further prevent community spread of the virus, many schools are deciding –– or being told by health officials –– to lock their doors to in-person learning. There are many different opinions on this situation. Some believe that it is unfair for only schools to shut down while other places do not, and others believe that public locations should close –– especially schools.

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Because many people want to live as normal of a life as they can during the pandemic, and data going into the summer showed the virus was receding in New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy has loosened restrictions over the past few months. However, seeing the number of cases significantly rise, Murphy is tightening the restrictions again, though the restrictions are seemingly tighter for schools than anywhere else.

Allowing schools to be in-person is different than allowing restaurants, gyms, or stores to be open. Schools have more people inside the building, which means that there is less social distancing among students and faculty. Shutting down schools will reduce the chances of students catching the Covid-19 more than in restaurants or gyms because these public locations have fewer people for the space compared to schools.

“I agree with schools closing because they’re looking out for students and the safety of others, but I feel like if a public location doesn’t want to close and is not required to, then they don’t have to. If the state says they have to, then that’s when they should close because safety should come first, especially when it’s recommended by the state,” voiced Hills freshman Brian Yang.

While there are people who believe that schools should be online for the safety of students, there are those who think it is not worth the struggle and instead should stay open while following safety precautions. People believe that these spots should be available for others to visit, and closing only schools while leaving other places open will not be a drastic change since everyone will still be going to stores, gyms, restaurants, and more. This is an opinion that most of the Hills community disagrees with, especially as they realize that winter break is coming up.

“I believe that schools and public places should remain closed for the holiday season because there will no doubt be an increase in cases as people meet with their families during the holidays. After the holidays, I think it would be okay to open schools and public places again,” sophomore Amy Sheehan stated.

Though businesses are attempting to stay accessible for as long as possible, having most public locations be open and not schools make other people believe that going remote just for school is ineffective when it comes to ending the spread of the coronavirus.

Many students do not social distance in hallways, everyone has their masks off in restaurants, and multiple people touch items in stores. It is simply not guaranteed that everyone will social distance in public locations and beyond. These are just a few reasons why many people believe that going on lockdown is the best and most effective way to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Sophomore Nicole Ensmann believes that “schools should remain closed because no one can truly control what students are doing outside of school. From small gatherings to parties, people can never really know where others have been making the spread in schools hard to keep under control.

By having other public locations be open and by allowing students to go to other places, the chances of Covid-19 spreading continue to stay significantly high. With the holiday season around the corner and families gathering together, many understand that this is the most important time to avoid the virus.”

“I don’t think schools should reopen until after all of the holidays are done. Although I love being in-person, I think for the safety and sanity of the students and staff, it would just be best if we didn’t return until after the holidays,” junior Kailani Perez said.

Many are firm with their beliefs that the more locations that close, the better the virus can be controlled. With the controversy spreading on whether or not schools and/or public locations should shut down, there are people who believe the ways that New Jersey is currently handling the pandemic should stay as-is: Schools stay open unless there are multiple coronavirus cases, and public locations close only if there is a severe spike in cases, etcetera. Closing areas when there are not many Covid-19 cases seems like an unreasonable decision to many people and they believe that these measures should only be taken if it is deemed necessary.

Freshman Gabriella Vespe commented, “Although we are not currently handling the pandemic in the wisest way, I believe that keeping schools and businesses open is helping children get the best education they can given the current circumstances and is helping our economy.”

There are many different views on how to handle the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic after seeing what has been happening for the past several months during the first wave. There are those who believe that no places should shut down unless there are many cases in the area, there are those who believe that most/all places should close for the time being, and there are those who believe that the current way of handling the virus is fine.